lets paint.

last week, romes and i invited some friends over to get our paint on.

 we had plans to whip up a rad father's day gift.

 and though, there were a few distractions 

{asher man, driving chooo chooo's around the fire pit}

 all in all, our little morning a'la art was successful. 

[read: it was a blast]

 and we were so very thankful for our madigirl to be here helping :)

 romes made a special little piece, with hand prints galore.

 dude's got talent.  let me tell ya.

bram and asher went to town.  

creativity is an understatement with these to young lads.

 and, well, they're kstate fans.  

so they got all 'wildcat' like and painted themselves purple.

[go big red, i say. go big red]

 we didn't stop with canvases.

soon enough we were painting everything in sight:

legs and arms. diapers and bellies.  paper plates and straight up the deck floor.

we love our friends.

we love to paint.

and we love to run around sans clothes.

all in all? awesome morning.

father's day. 2012.

for the past couple months, father's day has been on the back of my mind.

trying to figure out how to honor my husband, the father of our little boy, on his special day, 

just made me all sorts of giddy with excitement.  

i began planning the gifts we would give him, whether homemade or bought, 

and what we would do on that weekend to celebrate his amazing, steadfast, cornerstone role in our family.

and, though i thought up some pretty rad things, i kept feeling like nothing would suffice in rewarding his hard work, his love, his selflessness, his compassion, his empathy, and his honesty.

and then, it hit me.  he does those things out of love.  he doesn't even need to be rewarded.

[don't you worry....we still loaded him up with presents and fun surprises!]

if i can teach one thing to my children, about their father, it would be that he loves us well.

unfortunately, these days, love is a word so over-used, so used out of context, and so used without really understanding its value.  

but, today i choose to use the word love.

in trying to describe my mr leif, i rely on what our heavenly Father tells us about love.

because, thats exactly what my mr leif shows us.

love is these things:

"it's patient, love is kind. 

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. 

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Love never fails." 


happy fathers day to you mr leif.
we love you :)

and without further ado, 

i give you the monsterishly long video i created for mr leif.

romy and i shared it with him this morning.

and, well, to say he loved it would be an understatement.

[hi grammys! hi papas! this video is for you!!!]

hang that rack.

so, about 5 years ago, we lived in an apartment.

sometimes i dumpster dived found awesome treasures in the apartment's parking lot.

this, was one of those awesome treasures.

it was a plain ole wine rack.  just dying to be filled up with bottles of grapey goodness.

and begging to whitewashed, errrr covered slopily with white paint.

but. as any homekeeper would have it, the less one has to clean around/under the better.

so.  cute little wine rack, perched in the corner was

a) collecting way too many dust bunnies in between its rungs

and b) annoying to move so it typically sat there and didn't get cleaned under/around.

and thus, i said, "mr leif. hang that sucker!"

and he did.

[i heart him a ton]

so now, i give you, the hanging wine rack.

with sadly, only 4 bottles of wine.  

i must get to trader joes and buy more cheap wine.

...

now, onto more crafty goodness:

who doesn't like a fresh pallet, just waiting to be attacked with my diy hands.

i do! i do!  gimme some of dat.

[i'm sure i'll post a picture of my wood pallet creation....in like 4 months when i actually complete it]

weekend update.

when i taught 2nd grade, each monday morning the students filled out a weekend update.

they had to list three things they did over the weekend.  in complete sentences.  sometimes in cursive.

i was always amazed at how some of them couldn't remember what they did over the weekend.

i would try and pull it outta them.  what did you eat?  it was nice out...did you go outside?  was your family around?  did you go see your dad?  did you go to church?  and still many times, blanks.

and though i was frustrated at their lack of weekend reflection.  i understand.  

if i don't slow down, and intentionally make time to remember, to reflect, then i, too, roll on without remembering.  it's what i love about blogging.  it has become a form of reflection, while documenting our ordinary, dysfunctional, sometimes crazy, full-o-fun life.  

it forces me to peruse through photos, jot a few things down, and bam, it's there.  a memory.

...

in honor of my second graders, who worked so hard at completing their weekend update, i give you:

our weekend update.

{i include friday, because, well, friday is always a celebration day, marking another weekend is just around the corner}

 friday mornin >> romes & i loaded up in the car, and we were off.  doin what we do best: garage sales.

i never know what i'm searching for.  i suppose it's the search that gets me goin.

sometimes i find random furniture that might have a cute spraypainted future in my home.

and sometimes, a cute skirt.

this friday, i found both.  and you better believe the bench is in the process of being fixed up.

and the skirt? i wore that out friday night.

winner winner chik-fil-a dinner.

 then. romes and i were off on a jaunt in the stroller. our destination? sonic.

they have ice cream cones for a buck.  and roman just had to show me how he bites right into it.

dude's got warrior teeth.

and he also screamed any time i tried to have a lick.

dude's got some sharing issues when it comes to his ice cream.

 

 and friday night was bitter sweet.  we had to say goodbye to some dear. sweet. amazing. god fearing. jesus loving. grace celebrating friends. and really, the adjectives could go on.  

and as beautiful as they are on the outside {that's their little J up there!}, the huggins are just as beautiful on the inside, and this next journey is just another step in their journey to their final destination. 

 one we'll get to share someday :)

2nd photo :: {earlier in the week we got to send molly off in prayer, fondu, and heartfelt girl talk}

 saturday   >>   mr leif and i were craving a good breakfast.  but neither of us felting like cooking.

answer to our little dilemma?  the plaza.  we hit up [in.gre.dient] and ordered the same thing.

belgian waffle.  blueberries.  strawberries.  whipped cream.  oh, and syrup.

romes chilled like it was his job.  he can sit in a chair now, nbd.

 and then, we were off to people watch explore.  

first stop?

any fountain we could find.

and when we were sick of just staring at the fountains...barely getting our fingies wet?

 momma let her germophobe/fear-of-fountain-water-bacteria/let's-all-stay-clean guard down,

and romes got wet.

like, soaked.

[a bath was in order asap upon returning home]

and obvi, after having all that fun, roman screamed almost the entire 4 block walk to the car.  

dude didn't wanna leave the wa-wa {water}

 mr leif and romes spent the rest of the afternoon doing yardwork. 

momma spent it sunning.  with her favie book at the moment.  and a brewsky.

 by late afternoon we had some guests. casey's little brothers and step dad ventured to the big city.

they had to pick up their brand new puppy :) we jumped for joy when they asked to spend the night,

and romy practically peed his pants when he saw they brought a puppy.

so, to calm him down. we had him do some yoga.  and little puppy [duke is his name!] joined in too.

downward dog, anyone?

 we ended the night, as any summer night should.

family. firepits. and smores.

one of the best combos out there.

 by the time they left, romes had a new best friend.  i'm still hearing requests for "puppy?! puppy?!" 

every single day.

and then, mr leif and i ended our weekend [embarassingly] with a most recent episode of the kardashians, and a budlight lime.  that scott disick.  he's a crackup. 

call us lame, call us crazy, call us whatevayawant.  we like watchin the kardashians. HA!

yikes.

and there ya have it folks.

another weekend in the books.